Innovative treatment methods are being tried across the world against the COVID-19 pandemic and convalescent plasma therapy is one among these. Now Kerala has decided to conduct trials using this treatment too and in the forefront of these efforts is Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) in Thiruvananthapuram.
SCTIMST Director Dr Asha Kishore told Onmanorama that plasma therapy, where blood from patients who recovered from COVID-19 is utilized, would be tried on other patients who are critically ill.
“While the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and the government have given the sanction to conduct clinical trials, the clearance from Drug Controller General of India is awaited,” she said.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the US has allowed plasma therapy by accepting blood from people who have recovered from COVID-19 and shown no symptom for 14 days.
Dr Asha said that the experiment could be conducted in India only after the rules in place for blood donation are eased. SCTIMST would act as the main centre for trials and the five major medical colleges in Kerala would have the necessary facilities. “Each of these institutions need to obtain clearance from the Ethics Committee,” added Dr Asha.
The trials would be led by Dr Debashish Gupta, Head of the Department of Transfusion Medicine at SCTIMST and data regarding the patients undergoing the trials collected by Dr A S Anoop Kumar, head of the COVID-19 clinic at Baby Memorial Hospital in Kozhikode. It was Dr Anoop who submitted the project report in this regard prepared by SCTIMST to the ICMR on behalf of the government.
Blood for the plasma therapy will be collected from recovered patients at SCTIMST and the medical colleges and donated to critical patients with sanction from Blood Transfusion Council. Plasma would be separated from blood and taken to other hospitals under refrigeration.
However, it has not been proved that plasma therapy is totally effective against COVID-19. Back in 1918, such treatments were employed against the influenza in the USA. Similar methods were utilized to treat polio, measles and mumps.
What is convalescent plasma therapy?
When the blood of the donor is passed through a plasmapheresis machine, the cells would be separated and returned to the donor. Plasma, which is the cell-less part of the blood, is collected, frozen and stored.
When a person suffers from COVID-19, antibodies are created in his or her body as defence. Such B lymphocytes would be present in plasma. After a patient recovers from the disease, these antibodies remain in blood to prevent another attack by the virus. The plasma collected from such people and given to another patient would have antibodies which target the virus and prevent the recipient from slipping into a more serious condition. According to researches, plasma taken from one donor would have sufficient doses for two patients.
